Transcoder enabled cloud of remotely controlled devices

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments are directed to one or more transcoder devices in communication with an input device such as a remote control device and multiple destination devices in which the transcoder device(s) facilitate communication between the remote control and the various destination devices in the vicinity. The transcoder device(s) can also provide the user with an environmental awareness of conditions and events surrounding the user. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims the benefit of andpriority to previously filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/676,213filed Aug. 14, 2017, entitled “TRANSCODER ENABLED CLOUD OF REMOTELYCONTROLLED DEVICES”, which is a continuation of, claims the benefit ofand priority to previously filed U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/789,834 filed Jul. 1, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,736,546, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/819,218 filed Feb.26, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,092,798, which is a U.S. national stageentry of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2011/049205 filedAug. 25, 2011, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/377,588 filed Aug. 27, 2010, which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Many home entertainment systems comprise multiple media sources andoutput devices that are loosely integrated at best. Media source devicesare generally capable of storing and forwarding audio/video content.Output devices are generally capable of displaying video and playingaudio in a form understood by a human user. The user is often faced witha scenario that requires her to manipulate multiple remote controldevices each associated with a different media source device or outputdevice. Even when the user utilizes a so-called “universal remote”, theuser is generally required to manually switch modes on the remotecontrol device to ensure that a control directive (e.g., command) isissued to the proper media source or output device.

Accordingly, there may be a need for improved techniques to solve theseand other problems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a media processing system.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a media processing component.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a transcoder device.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a transcoder device system.

FIG. 5a illustrates one embodiment of a transcoder device communicatingbetween a remote control device and a destination device.

FIG. 5b illustrates one embodiment of multiple transcoder devicescommunicating between a remote control device and multiple destinationdevices.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a logic flow.

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a computing architecture.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a communications architecture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Consumer electronics, processing systems and communications systems areconverging. For instance, consumer electronics such as digitaltelevisions and media centers are evolving to include processingcapabilities typically found on a computer and communicationscapabilities typically found in mobile devices. As such, heterogeneousconsumer electronics continue to evolve into a single integrated system,sometimes referred to as a “digital home system.”

A digital home system may be arranged to provide a compellingentertainment environment in which a user can move seamlessly betweentelevision viewing, internet access, and home media management invarious embodiments. In some embodiments, a single flexible and dynamicinterface may allow a user to find the television programming that theywish to view, acquire the information that they seek from the Web, orenjoy personal audio files, photos, and movies. The system may alsofacilitate enhanced television viewing, enable collaborative interactionwith family and friends, and securely execute financial transactions. Adigital home system may provide these features while retaining thefamiliar design sensibilities and ease-of-use of a traditionaltelevision.

In various embodiments, a digital home system may address commondeficiencies associated with current entertainment systems in whichaccess to television programming, the internet, and personal mediarequires operation of three separate interfaces. For example, a unifiedinterface of the digital home system may incorporate physical andgraphical elements tied to an easily understood underlyingorganizational framework, making a home entertainment experience moreinteresting, compelling, engaging, and efficient. A unified interfacemay combine the best aspects of the three integrated paradigms, e.g.,those of television, internet, and computers. For example, elements suchas animation, information-rich displays, and video and audio cues fromtraditional televisions and television menus may be incorporated intothe unified interface. Similarly, seamless integration of differentforms of content and communications mechanisms from traditional internetexperiences, allowing links from one form of content to another andproviding tools such as messaging and video conferencing may also beincorporated. And from computers, point-and-click mechanisms that alloweffective navigation of complex information spaces may also be part ofthe unified interface of the digital home system in various embodiments.

The digital home system may utilize, in some embodiments, a visualdisplay such as a television display as a navigation device. Using thedisplay in combination with any number of remote control devices, a usercan carry out complex tasks in fulfilling and transformative ways. Thedigital home system may include familiar mechanisms such as on-screenprogramming guides, innovative technologies that facilitate navigationvia natural motions and gestures and context-sensitivity thatunderstands the user and the options available to the user which allcombine to make the digital home system experience intuitive andefficient as it empowers the user to utilize multiple devices in aseamlessly integrated way.

For a typical television-viewing, media-perusing, and web-browsing homeuser, the digital home system may be arranged to provide a unified homeentertainment experience, allowing the user to freely navigate throughtelevision, media, and internet offerings from a traditional viewingposition (such as a sofa) using a unified interface. In someembodiments, the unified interface integrates the information providedby a diverse array of devices and services into the existing televisionor other display in an functionally seamless and easily understoodmanner.

The digital home system may include, in various embodiments, amulti-axis integrated on-screen navigation component allowing thedisplay screen to be used for navigation as well as for the presentationof content. In some embodiments, the digital home system may alsoinclude a user interface engine operative to provide context-sensitivefeatures and overlays intelligently integrated with the underlyingcontent and adaptive to the viewing environment. A family of remotecontrol and other input/output devices may also be incorporated into thedigital home system in various embodiments to further enhance theintuitive user interactions, ease of use and overall quality of thesystem. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

Various embodiments are directed to multiple transcoder devices incommunication with a remote control device and multiple output devicesand/or media source devices in which the transcoder devices facilitatecommunication between the remote control and the various destinationdevices in the vicinity. The transcoder devices can also provide theuser with an environmental awareness of conditions and eventssurrounding the user. As a result, the embodiments can improveaffordability, scalability, modularity, extendibility, orinteroperability for an operator, device or network.

Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein like reference numeralsare used to refer to like elements throughout. In the followingdescription, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details areset forth in order to provide a thorough understanding thereof. It maybe evident, however, that the novel embodiments can be practiced withoutthese specific details. In other instances, well known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate adescription thereof. The intention is to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of theclaimed subject matter.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram for a media processing system 100.The media processing system 100 is generally directed to performingmedia processing operations for media content in accordance with anyassociated control signaling necessary for presenting media content onan output device. In one embodiment, the media processing system 100 isparticularly arranged to provide media content from disparate mediasources to viewers in a home environment, such as a digital home system,for example. However, the media processing system 100 may be suitablefor any use scenarios involving presentation and display of mediacontent. Although the media processing system 100 shown in FIG. 1 has alimited number of elements in a certain topology, it may be appreciatedthat the media processing system 100 may include more or less elementsin alternate topologies as desired for a given implementation. Theembodiments are not limited in this context.

In various embodiments, various elements of the media processing system100 may communicate, manage, or process information in accordance withone or more protocols. A protocol may comprise a set of predefined rulesor instructions for managing communication among nodes. A protocol maybe defined by one or more standards as promulgated by a standardsorganization, such as, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU),the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), theInternational Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Internet EngineeringTask Force (IETF), the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and soforth. For example, the described embodiments may be arranged to operatein accordance with standards for media processing, such as the NationalTelevision Systems Committee (NTSC) standards, the Advanced TelevisionSystems Committee (ATSC) standards, the Phase Alteration by Line (PAL)standards, the MPEG-1 standard, the MPEG-2 standard, the MPEG-4standard, the Open Cable standard, the Society of Motion Picture andTelevision Engineers (SMPTE) Video-Codec (VC-1) standards, the ITU/IECH.263 and H.264 standards, and others. Another example may includevarious Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standards, such as the DigitalVideo Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T) broadcasting standard, the DVBSatellite (DVB-S) broadcasting standard, the DVB Cable (DVB-C)broadcasting standard, and others. Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is asuite of internationally accepted open standards for digital television.DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an internationalindustry consortium, and they are published by a Joint TechnicalCommittee (JTC) of European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization(CENELEC) and European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The embodiments are notlimited in this context.

In various embodiments, elements of the media processing system 100 maybe arranged to communicate, manage or process different types ofinformation, such as media information and control information. Examplesof media information may generally include any data or signalsrepresenting multimedia content meant for a user, such as media content,voice information, video information, audio information, imageinformation, textual information, numerical information, alphanumericsymbols, graphics, and so forth. Control information may refer to anydata or signals representing commands, instructions, control directivesor control words meant for an automated system. For example, controlinformation may be used to route media information through a system, toestablish a connection between devices, instruct a device to process themedia information in a predetermined manner, monitor or communicatestatus, perform synchronization, and so forth. The embodiments are notlimited in this context.

In various embodiments, media processing system 100 may be implementedas a wired communication system, a wireless communication system, or acombination of both. Although media processing system 100 may beillustrated using a particular communications media by way of example,it may be appreciated that the principles and techniques discussedherein may be implemented using any type of communication media andaccompanying technology. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext.

When implemented as a wired system, for example, the media processingsystem 100 may include one or more elements arranged to communicateinformation over one or more wired communications media. Examples ofwired communications media may include a wire, cable, printed circuitboard (PCB), backplane, switch fabric, semiconductor material,twisted-pair wire, co-axial cable, fiber optics, and so forth. The wiredcommunications media may be connected to a device using an input/output(I/O) adapter. The I/O adapter may be arranged to operate with anysuitable technique for controlling information signals between elementsusing a desired set of communications protocols, services or operatingprocedures. The I/O adapter may also include the appropriate physicalconnectors to connect the I/O adapter with a correspondingcommunications medium. Examples of an I/O adapter may include a networkinterface, a network interface card (NIC), disc controller, videocontroller, audio controller, and so forth. The embodiments are notlimited in this context.

When implemented as a wireless system, for example, the media processingsystem 100 may include one or more wireless elements arranged tocommunicate information over one or more types of wireless communicationmedia. An example of wireless communication media may include portionsof a wireless spectrum, such as the RF spectrum. The wireless elementsmay include components and interfaces suitable for communicatinginformation signals over the designated wireless spectrum, such as oneor more antennas, wireless transmitters, receiver,transmitters/receivers (“transceivers”), amplifiers, filters, controllogic, antennas, and so forth. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext.

In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the media processingsystem 100 may comprise a media processing device 110. The mediaprocessing device 110 may further comprise one or more input devices102-a, one or more output devices 104-b, one or more media sources106-c, and one or more transcoder devices 114-n. The media processingdevice 110 may be communicatively coupled to the input devices 102-a,the output devices 104-b, the media sources 106-c, and the transcoderdevices 114-n via respective wireless or wired communicationsconnections 108-d, 110-e and 112-f.

It is worthy to note that “a” and “b” and “c” and “d” and similardesignators as used herein are intended to be variables representing anypositive integer. Thus, for example, if an implementation sets a valuefor a=5, then a complete set of input devices 102-a may includecomputing devices 102-1, 102-2, 102-3, 102-4 and 102-5. The embodimentsare not limited in this context.

In various embodiments, the media processing system 100 may include oneor more input devices 102-a. In general, each input device 102-a maycomprise any component or device capable of providing information to themedia processing device 110. Examples of input devices 102-a may includewithout limitation remote control devices, pointing devices, keyboards,keypads, trackballs, trackpads, touchscreens, joysticks, gamecontrollers, sensors, biometric sensors, thermal sensors, motionsensors, directional sensors, microphones, microphone arrays, videocameras, video camera arrays, global positioning system devices, mobilecomputing devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, handheldcomputing devices, tablet computing devices, netbook computing devices,smart phones, cellular telephones, wearable computers, and so forth. Theembodiments are not limited in this context.

In various embodiments, the media processing system 100 may include oneor more output devices 104-b. An output device 104-b may comprise anyelectronic device capable of reproducing, rendering or presenting mediacontent for consumption by a human being. Examples of output devices104-b may include without limitation a display, an analog display, adigital display, a television display, audio speakers, headphones, aprinting device, lighting systems, warning systems, mobile computingdevices, laptop computers, desktop computers, handheld computingdevices, tablet computing devices, netbook computing devices and soforth. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

In one embodiment, for example, the media processing system 100 mayinclude a display 104-1. The display 104-1 may comprise any analog ordigital display capable of presenting media information received frommedia sources 106-c. The display 104-1 may display the media informationat a defined format resolution. In various embodiments, for example, theincoming video signals received from media sources 106-c may have anative format, sometimes referred to as a visual resolution format.Examples of a visual resolution format include a digital television(DTV) format, high definition television (HDTV), progressive format,computer display formats, and so forth. For example, the mediainformation may be encoded with a vertical resolution format rangingbetween 480 visible lines per frame to 1080 visible lines per frame, anda horizontal resolution format ranging between 640 visible pixels perline to 1920 visible pixels per line. In one embodiment, for example,the media information may be encoded in an HDTV video signal having avisual resolution format of 720 progressive (720p), which refers to 720vertical pixels and 1280 horizontal pixels (720×1280). In anotherexample, the media information may have a visual resolution formatcorresponding to various computer display formats, such as a videographics array (VGA) format resolution (640×480), an extended graphicsarray (XGA) format resolution (1024×768), a super XGA (SXGA) formatresolution (1280×1024), an ultra XGA (UXGA) format resolution(1600×1200), and so forth. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext. The type of displays and format resolutions may vary inaccordance with a given set of design or performance constraints, andthe embodiments are not limited in this context.

In various embodiments, the media processing system 100 may include oneor more media sources 106-c. Media sources 106-c may comprise any mediasource capable of sourcing or delivering media information and/orcontrol information to media processing device 110. More particularly,media sources 106-c may comprise any media source capable of sourcing ordelivering digital audio and/or video (AV) signals to media processingdevice 110. Examples of media sources 106-c may include any hardware orsoftware element capable of storing and/or delivering media information,such as a digital video recorder (DVR), a personal video recorder (PVR),a digital versatile disc (DVD) device, a video home system (VHS) device,a digital VHS device, a disk drive, a hard drive, an optical disc drivea universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, a memory card, a securedigital (SD) memory card, a mass storage device, a flash drive, acomputer, a gaming console, a compact disc (CD) player,computer-readable or machine-readable memory, a digital camera,camcorder, video surveillance system, teleconferencing system, telephonesystem, medical and measuring instruments, scanner system, copiersystem, television system, digital television system, set top boxes,personal video records, server systems, computer systems, personalcomputer systems, smart phones, tablets, notebooks, handheld computers,wearable computers, portable media players (PMP), portable mediarecorders (PMR), digital audio devices (e.g., MP3 players), digitalmedia servers and so forth. Other examples of media sources 106-c mayinclude media distribution systems to provide broadcast or streaminganalog or digital AV signals to media processing device 110. Examples ofmedia distribution systems may include, for example, Over The Air (OTA)broadcast systems, terrestrial cable systems (CATV), satellite broadcastsystems, and so forth. It is worthy to note that media sources 106-c maybe internal or external to media processing device 110, depending upon agiven implementation. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

In various embodiments, the media processing system 100 may include oneor more transcoder devices 114-n. A transcoder device 114-n maygenerally operate as a universal command interpreter to receive controldirectives from various input devices 102-c, determine a destinationdevice for the control directives (e.g., another input device 102-c, anoutput device 104-b, or a media source 106-c) from among multiplepotential destination devices, and forward the control directives to theappropriate destination device. Further, the transcoder device 114-n maytranslate the control directives between varying protocols or dataschemas as needed.

In one embodiment, for example, a transcoder device 114-n may comprisemultiple wireless transceivers implemented by the communicationscomponent 120. The transcoder device 114-n may further comprise aprocessing component or logic device, similar to the processingcomponent 112 implemented for the media processing device 110, withsuitable control hardware or software arranged to receive a controldirective sent from an input device 102-1, such as a remote controldevice. The transcoder device 114-n may then perform any necessarytranslations, and relay the control directive to one or more destinationdevices. For instance, this may include the relay of control directivesthat have arrived over a WiFi or other household (or Internet)networking link to other destination devices that are not necessarilynetworked. Similarly, a control directive may comprise an intent controldirective intended, for example, to turn all destination devices off. Inthat case, the transcoder may interpret the meta control directivereceived from a remote control input device 102-1 and may sendsubsequent control directives to a set of destination devices to powerdown whether or not the destination devices are on the network. Thetranscoder device 114-n may receive and process an intent controldirective coordinating for the destination devices. Thus, the intentcontrol directive does not need to have any knowledge of the systembeyond that it has a “Power Off” intent control directive. Other intentcontrol directives may be programmed into the remote control inputdevice 102-1 and transcoder device 114-n. The embodiments are notlimited in this context.

In various embodiments, the media processing system 100 may include oneor more media processing devices 110. The media processing device 110may comprise any electronic device arranged to receive, process, manage,and/or present media information received from media sources 106-c. Ingeneral, the media processing device 110 may include, among otherelements, a processing system, a processing sub-system, a processor, acomputer, a device, an encoder, a decoder, a coder/decoder (codec), afiltering device (e.g., graphic scaling device, deblocking filteringdevice), a transformation device, an entertainment system, a display, orany other processing or communications architecture. The embodiments arenot limited in this context.

The media processing device 110 may execute processing operations orlogic for the media processing system 100 using a processing component112. The processing component 112 may comprise various hardwareelements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples ofhardware elements may include devices, components, processors,microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors,resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits,application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logicdevices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gatearray (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductordevice, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of softwareelements may include software components, programs, applications,computer programs, application programs, system programs, machineprograms, operating system software, middleware, firmware, softwaremodules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, softwareinterfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets,computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments,words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whetheran embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or softwareelements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such asdesired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processingcycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources,data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desiredfor a given implementation.

In one embodiment, the processing component 112 may optionally implementa transcoder component 116. The transcoder component 116 may performoperations similar to those performed by a transcoder device 114-n. Inone embodiment, the transcoder component 116 may operate to perform alltranscoding operations for the media processing system 100. Forinstance, in this embodiment there are no other transcoding devices114-n implemented for the media processing system 100, and alltranscoding operations are performed by the transcoder component 116 ofthe media processing device 110. In one embodiment, the transcodercomponent 116 may perform part of the transcoding operations for themedia processing system 100 in conjunction with one or more transcoderdevices 114-n. For instance, the transcoder component 116 may cause themedia processing device 110 to perform operations as a single transcoderdevice 114-1 in a system of transcoder devices 114-2 . . . 114-n. Inanother example, the transcoder component 116 may not perform anytranscoding operations, but rather operate as a controller for one ormore transcoder devices 114-n implemented for the media processingsystem 100. In one embodiment, the transcoder component 116 may bedisabled or removed thereby leaving transcoding operations to beperformed by one or more transcoder devices 114-n. The embodiments arenot limited in this context.

The media processing device 110 may execute communications operations orlogic for the media processing system 100 using communications component120. The communications component 120 may implement any well-knowncommunications techniques and protocols, such as techniques suitable foruse with packet-switched networks (e.g., public networks such as theInternet, private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and soforth), circuit-switched networks (e.g., the public switched telephonenetwork), or a combination of packet-switched networks andcircuit-switched networks (with suitable gateways and translators). Thecommunications component 120 may include various types of standardcommunication elements, such as one or more communications interfaces,network interfaces, network interface cards (NIC), radios, wirelesstransmitters/receivers (transceivers), wired and/or wirelesscommunication media, infra-red transceivers, serial interfaces, parallelinterfaces, bus interfaces, physical connectors, and so forth. By way ofexample, and not limitation, communication media 120 includes wiredcommunications media and wireless communications media, as previouslydescribed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram for a media processing system 200that may be the same or similar to media processing system 100 of FIG. 1where like elements are similarly numbered. The media processing system200 may comprise a sample digital home system implementation that isarranged to provide media content from disparate media sources toviewers in a home, office, or room environment. Although the mediaprocessing system 200 shown in FIG. 2 has a limited number of elementsin a certain topology, it may be appreciated that the media processingsystem 200 may include more or less elements in alternate topologies asdesired for a given implementation. The embodiments are not limited inthis context.

In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the media processingsystem 200 may comprise a media processing device 110, input device102-1, output devices 104-1, 104-2 and 104-3, transcoder device 114-1and one or more media sources 106 (not shown). The media processingdevice 110 may be communicatively coupled to the input device 102-1, theoutput devices 104-1, 104-2 and 104-3, transcoder device 114-1 and themedia sources 106 via respective wireless or wired communicationsconnections 108-2, 110-1, 110-2 and 110-3. For purposes of illustration,the one or more media sources 106 of FIG. 2 (not shown) are part of, orintegrated into, media processing device 110. Other embodiments aredescribed and claimed.

In various embodiments, media processing device 110 may comprise aset-top box, digital media hub, media server, or other suitableprocessing device arranged to control the digital home system 200. Whileshown as a separate component in FIG. 2, it should be understood thatmedia processing device 110 may be arranged as part of output device104-1 or any other suitable component of system 200 in some embodiments.Output device 104-1 may comprise a digital television arranged todisplay information received from media processing device 110 overconnection 110-1 in some embodiments. In various embodiments, outputdevices 104-2 and 104-3 may comprise speakers arranged to reproduceaudio or other acoustic signals received from media processing device110 over connections 110-2 and 110-3 respectively. Input device 102-1may comprise a remote control, smart phone, or other suitable processingdevice capable of communicating with media processing device 110, outputdevice 104-1 or any other device in the digital home system 200.Together, each of the components, nodes or devices of media processingsystem 200 may form or comprise one example embodiment of digital homeentertainment system. The embodiments are not limited to the type,number or arrangement of components illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a transcoder device 114-n. Invarious embodiments, the transcoder device 114-n may include one or morewireless transceivers 302 adapted to receive and send informationincluding control directives, for example. The wireless transceivers 302may include an IR transceiver, an RF transceiver, an ultrasonictransceiver, a Bluetooth™ transceiver, a WiFi transceiver, or any othertransceiver capable of sending and receiving wireless signals.

In various embodiments, the transcoder device 114-n may include one ormore sensor devices 304 adapted to sense an environmental condition.Types of sensors may include, but are not limited to, a video camera, alight sensor, a motion detector, a thermometer, and a microphone.

In providing an environmental awareness, the transcoder 114-n may beable to capture audio and video conditions in the vicinity of thetranscoder 114-n using, for instance, the microphone and video camera.The audio and video may be locally stored or sent to one or more outputdevices 104-b or media sources 106-c for display or storagerespectively. Thus, a transcoder 114-n can act as a surveillance device.Using the motion detector, the transcoder 114-n may also be able todetect motion and trigger an output device 104-b to provide an audio orvisual alert or cause the video camera and microphone to start recordingdata. In another example, a transcoder 114-n may be able to trigger theremote display or storage of audio/video data by communicating with oneor more output devices 104-b or media sources 106-c having audio/videorecording capabilities. In yet another example, a light sensor can beused to detect whether the display of a television has been turned on toprovide confirmation that a control directive to turn on a televisionwas indeed executed. Similarly, a thermometer can act like a thermostatand trigger a control directive to an appliance such as a thermostatcontrol device to raise or lower the temperature by altering thesettings for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

In various embodiments, the transcoder device 114-n may include aprocessing component 306 similar to the processing component 112, theprocessing component 306 comprising a one or more processors and one ormore memory units 305 arranged to process and store data—particularlycontrol directives received from a remote control device or one of themultiple sensor devices. The processing component 306 is operative withthe memory units 305, multiple wireless transceivers 302, and multiplesensors 304. The memory units 305 may store data pertaining to the oneor more output devices 104-b, media sources 106-c, or other applianceswhich can be collectively termed “destination devices” includingidentifier data representing a unique identifier for each of the one ormore destination devices.

In various embodiments, the processing component 306 may comprise orimplement a transcoder control module 307. The transcoder control module307 may implement various types of control logic for the transcoderdevice 114-n. In one embodiment, for example, the transcoder controlmodule 307 may be operative on the processing component 306 (e.g., aprocessor or other logic device) to receive a control directive sentfrom a remote control device, identify one or more destination devicesfrom among a set of multiple destination devices to receive the controldirective, and relay the control directive to the one or moredestination devices.

In various embodiments, the control directives may include theidentifier data for an intended destination device such that atranscoder device 114-n may relay the control directive to a destinationdevice based on the identifier data of the destination device stored inthe memory.

In various embodiments, the control directives may further comprisemultiple control directives that form a single control directive macrosuch that a single control directive macro can initiate multiple controldirectives from a transcoder 114-n to one or more of the destinationdevices. In addition, the single control directive macro can be intendedfor a single destination device or intended for multiple destinationdevices.

In various embodiments, the transcoder device 114-n may include network(e.g., Internet Protocol (IP)) connectivity in the form of a wiredconnection 308 or a wireless connection using, for instance, a WiFiwireless transceiver. For instance, one of the multiple wirelesstransceivers 302 may be a WiFi receiver with IP connectivity to a localrouter to provide Internet access. The IP connectivity is operative toallow the transcoder device 114-n to communicate over an IP network suchthat control directives may be received and transmitted by thetranscoder device 114-n over the IP network. A control directivereceived from a non-IP source may be relayed to an intended destinationdevice over the IP network assuming the destination device is alsoconnected to the IP network.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a transcoder device system 400. Inthe exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the transcoder devicesystem 400 may include multiple transcoder devices 114-1, 114-2communicable with multiple output devices 104-1, 104-2, one or moremedia sources 106-1, or other appliances. The collection of outputdevices 104-1, 104-2, one or more media sources 106-1 or otherappliances (not shown) which are not necessarily networked may becollectively referred to as destination devices. Other appliances mayinclude, for instance, lights or lighting, HVAC controls (e.g., athermostat), a security system, a fire alarm system, a home automationsystem, etc. Although FIG. 4 illustrates only two transcoder devices114-1, 114-2, two output devices 104-1, 104-2, and a single media source106-1, it may be appreciated that the transcoder device system 400 mayimplement any number of transcoder devices 114-n, input devices 102-c,output devices 104-b, and/or media sources 106-c as desired for a givenimplementation. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

The transcoder devices 114-1, 114-2 may also be communicable with aninput device 102-1 implemented as, for instance, a remote controldevice. The remote control input device 102-1 may issue controldirectives intended for one or more of the multiple destination devices104-1, 104-2, 106-1 that are received by one of the transcoder devices114-1. The transcoder device 114-1 receiving the control directive maythen relay the control directive to the intended destination devices104-1, 104-2, 106-1 via the most appropriate transceiver within thetranscoder device 114-1 that is directly communicable with the intendeddestination devices.

In various other embodiments, the transcoder device 114-1 and intendeddestination devices 104-1, 104-2, 106-1 may be coupled to a common IPnetwork 150 such that control directives received by the transcoderdevice 114-1 can be routed to the intended destination device over theIP network 150. The transcoder devices 114-n thus allow any destinationdevice to be IP addressable such that a control directive issued by aremote control device may be relayed to the intended destination devicewithout the user having precise knowledge of the exact transmissionmeans or pathway by which the control directive is relayed.

In various other embodiments, a control directive may comprise multiplecontrol directives that form a single control directive macro. A controldirective of this type may be received by a transcoder device 114-1 andprocessed such that the individual control directives are relayed to theintended destination device in the order set out in the controldirective macro. In addition, the individual control directives thatcomprise the control directive macro do not necessarily need to beintended for a single destination device.

A single control directive macro may allow a user to utilize a remotecontrol to control multiple destination devices using a single inputcommand. For example, a user may wish to watch a movie on his homeentertainment system. The user can cause a single “intent” controldirective (e.g., watch movie) to be sent from a remote control inputdevice 102-1 to a transcoder device 114-1. The single control directivemay represent a control directive macro comprised of multiple controldirectives such as, for instance, a control directive to power on atelevision, a control directive to switch the mode of the television toDVD input, a control directive to power on a DVD player, a controldirective to set the desired volume level for an audio amplifier, acontrol directive to a home automation system to dim the lights in theroom, and a control directive for a DVD player to ‘play’ a DVD. This setof six (6) control directives intended for multiple destination devicesmay be executed based on a single intent macro control directive fromthe remote control.

The transcoder devices 114-1, 114-2 may receive the single controldirective macro, and process the individual control directives includedin the single control directive macro. The transcoder devices 114-1,114-2 may then perform any necessary translation operations usingprocessing component 306 and transcoder control module 307, and routethe individual control directives to the appropriate destination devicesusing the appropriate wireless transceivers 302. The transcoder is aidedin its processing with its knowledge of the destination devicescomprising the home entertainment system. The transcoder devices 114-1,114-2 may perform such transcoding operations with reference to anytiming considerations needed for sequential operations of thedestination devices. For example, if a power amplifier needs to beturned on before an audio/video (AV) tuner, and a time needed fortranscoding operations of control directives for the power amplifierexceeds a time needed for transcoding operations of control directivesfor the AV tuner, the transcoder devices 114-1, 114-2 may store thetranscoded control directives for the AV tuner and forward them once thetranscoded control directives for the power amplifier have been sent.

In another embodiment, the transcoder device 114-1 is coupled with amedia processing device 110 and relays control directives to the mediaprocessing device 110 for subsequent processing and execution.

FIG. 5a illustrates one embodiment of a transcoder device communicatingbetween a remote control device and a destination device. In variousembodiments, a transcoder device 114-1 may receive a control directivefrom an input device 102-1 such as a remote control device. The controldirective may typically be a wireless signal f₁ that may be received inthe transcoder device 114-1 using one of the multiple transceiverswithin the transcoder device 114-1. The transcoder device 114-1 may thenrelay the control directive to an intended destination device 104-1,106-1 or media processing device 110. The manner in which the transcoderdevice 114-1 relays the control directive to an intended destinationdevice 104-1, 106-1 may be different from how it was received by thetranscoder device 114-1.

For example, the transcoder device 114-1 may receive a control directivefrom an input remote control device 102-1 over an infrared (IR)transceiver (e.g., signal f₁) and simply relay the control directive tothe intended destination device 104-1, 106-1 using the same IRtransceiver also signal f₁. Alternatively, the transcoder device 114-1may relay the control directive to the intended destination device104-1, 106-1 using one of the other wireless transceivers (e.g., an RFtransceiver transmitting signal f₂). In addition, if the controldirective is a control directive macro comprised of multiple controldirectives intended for multiple destination devices, the transcoderdevice 114-1 may utilize multiple transceivers to relay the multiplecontrol directives. A control directive may also be relayed to anintended destination device 104-1, 106-1 over an IP network 150 (e.g.,signal f₃) provided the transcoder device 114-1 and the intendeddestination device 104-1, 106-1 are both coupled to the IP network 150.

FIG. 5b illustrates one embodiment of multiple transcoder devicescommunicating between a remote control device and multiple destinationdevices. In various other embodiments, a transcoder device 114-1 may nothave direct access to an intended destination device 104-1, 106-1 due toRF range limitations or IR line of sight obstructions. In suchinstances, the transcoder device 114-1 may relay the control directiveto a second transcoder device 114-2. The second transcoder device 114-2then relays the control directive to the intended destination device104-1, 106-1. While not shown, more than two transcoder devices 114-nmay be communicatively coupled into a cloud of such devices and used todistribute and relay control directives and/or other data (e.g., audiodata from a transcoder microphone or video data from a transcoder videocamera) as described with reference to FIGS. 5a and 5 b.

In another embodiment, the transcoder device 114-1 may use its IPconnectivity 308 to upload data to a remote storage destination devicethat is communicatively coupled with an IP network. The transcoderdevice 114-1 may communicate over a local area network (LAN), a widearea network (WAN), and/or the Internet to upload data to a remotestorage destination device. The remote storage destination device mayinclude, but is not limited to, a cloud storage service, a remote IPaddressable hard drive, a laptop computer, etc.

Included herein is a set of flow charts representative of exemplarymethodologies for performing novel aspects of the disclosedarchitecture. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the oneor more methodologies shown herein, for example, in the form of a flowchart or flow diagram, are shown and described as a series of acts, itis to be understood and appreciated that the methodologies are notlimited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance therewith,occur in a different order and/or concurrently with other acts from thatshown and described herein. For example, those skilled in the art willunderstand and appreciate that a methodology could alternatively berepresented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in astate diagram. Moreover, not all acts illustrated in a methodology maybe required for a novel implementation.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a logic flow 600. The logic flow600 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed byone or more embodiments described herein.

In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the logic flow 600 atranscoder device may receive a control directive sent from an inputdevice (e.g., a remote control device) or another transcoder device114-n at block 602. For example, a remote control device may sendcontrol directive(s) using an IR transmitter. Alternatively, the remotecontrol device may send control directive(s) using an RF transmitter orother transmission means. The control directive(s) may be intended forone or more input devices 102-a, output devices 104-b, media sources106-c, or other appliances collectively known as destination devices.The transcoder device 114-n may be equipped with multiple differenttransceivers that can receive the control directives from a variety oftransmitters including other transcoder devices 114-n. The embodimentsare not limited to this example.

The logic flow 600 may determine if the control directive came fromanother transcoder device 114-n at block 603. For example, thetranscoder device 114-n may include a processor and memory as part ofthe processing component 306. The processor may be capable of processingthe received control directive(s) to determine whether a controldirective was received from an input device 102-a or another transcoderdevice 114-n. If the control directive was received from anothertranscoder device 114-n, the logic flow will bypass much of theprocessing described below and pass control directly to block 610 sincethe processing represented by blocks 604, 606, 608, and 609 has alreadybeen performed by the previous transcoder device 114-n. Otherwise, thelogic flow will pass control to block 604.

The logic flow 600 may determine if the control directive includesmultiple control directives at block 604. For example, the transcoderdevice 114-n may include a processor and memory as part of theprocessing component 306. The processor may be capable of processing thereceived control directive(s) to determine whether a control directiveis comprised of multiple control directives combined together in asingle control directive macro. The embodiments are not limited to thisexample.

If the received control directive does not contain multiple controldirectives as determined in block 604, the logic flow 600 may determineidentifier data for the intended destination device at block 606. Forexample, the memory of the processing component 306 of the transcoderdevice 114-n may have stored therein identifier data that uniquelyidentifies various destination devices. This identifier data mayinclude, for instance, a network IP address. The received controldirective may include the unique identifier data for the intendeddestination device. The processor of the processing component 306 mayinterpret the unique identifier data embedded in the received controldirective to determine the intended destination device. The embodimentsare not limited to this example.

If the received control directive does contain multiple controldirectives as determined in block 604, the logic flow 600 may determineidentifier data for each of the intended destination devices at block608. For example, the transcoder device 114-n may perform the sameprocessing described with respect to block 606 above for each of thecontrol directives determined in block 604. In addition, the logic flow600 may determine sequence of control directives at block 609. Forexample, multiple control directives may need to be executed in aparticular sequence. For instance, a “power on” control directive for aparticular destination device may need to be executed before anothercontrol directive associated with that destination device. Theembodiments are not limited to this example.

The logic flow 600 may determine if the transcoder device is directlycommunicable with the intended destination devices at block 610. Forexample, the transcoder device 114-n may determine if the uniqueidentifier data for the intended destination devices determined atblocks 606, 608 is stored in the memory. Alternatively, the transcoderdevice 114-n may attempt to establish a connection with the intendeddestination devices based on the unique identifier data determined atblocks 606, 608.

If a first transcoder device 114-1 is not directly communicable with theintended destination devices as determined in block 610, the logic flow600 may relay the control directive(s) to another transcoder device114-2 at block 612. For example, the transcoder device 114-1 may nothave the unique identifier data for one or more of the intendeddestination devices stored in its memory and therefore may not be ableto relay a control directive to one or more destination devices. Or, thetranscoder device 114-1 may not be able to establish a connection with adestination device. In such cases, the transcoder device 114-1 may relaythe control directive(s) it cannot relay directly to a destinationdevice to another transcoder device 114-2 that may be directlycommunicable with an intended destination device. This other transcoder114-2 may then attempt to relay the control directives to the intendeddestination devices. If this other transcoder device 114-2 similarly isnot directly communicable with the intended destination devices, it mayrelay the control directive(s) to yet another transcoder device 114-3.The process may be repeated until a transcoder device 114-n that isdirectly communicable with the intended destination devices is found.Along the way, a transcoder device 114-n may be able to communicate withsome but not all destination devices associated with the controldirective(s). The transcoder devices 114-n may relay control directivesto destination devices when possible and may relay other controldirectives to another transcoder device 114-n when it is not directlycommunicable with the destination devices. The embodiments are notlimited to this example.

If the transcoder device 114-n is directly communicable with theintended destination devices as determined in block 610, the logic flow600 may relay the control directive(s) to the intended destinationdevices at block 614. For example, the transcoder device 114-n maydetermine that the unique identifier data for the intended destinationdevices is stored in the transcoder memory. Along with the uniqueidentifier data, the transcoder memory may also store the preferredtransceiver to be used to communicate with the intended destinationdevices. The transcoder device 114-n may then relay the controldirective(s) to the intended destination devices using the appropriatetransceiver. The embodiments are not limited to this example.

Once the transcoder relays the control directive(s) to the intendeddestination devices, the logic flow 600 may confirm execution of controldirective(s) at block 616. For example, in various embodiments atranscoder device 114-n may include multiple sensors capable ofmonitoring the environmental status surrounding the transcoder device. Acontrol directive to lower the volume may be verified by a microphone ina transcoder that detects a change in output level from a particulardestination device such as an audio amplifier. In another example, thetranscoder device 114-n may include a light sensor capable ofdetermining if a destination device such as a television has executed acontrol directive to power on by sensing the light emitted from thetelevision. Similarly, a control directive to dim the room lights can bedetected by a light sensor in a transcoder device 114-n. In anotherexample, the transcoder device 114-n may receive a “receipt confirmed”message followed by a “directive executed” message from a destinationdevice to indicate that the destination device did receive and didattempt to execute the control directive. If the transcoder device 114-ncannot confirm the execution of a control directive after a certainperiod of time it can attempt to retransmit the control directive. Theembodiments are not limited to these examples.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of an exemplary computing architecture700 suitable for implementing various embodiments as previouslydescribed. As used in this application, the terms “system” and “device”and “component” are intended to refer to a computer-related entity,either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, orsoftware in execution, examples of which are provided by the exemplarycomputing architecture 700. For example, a component can be, but is notlimited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, a harddisk drive, multiple storage drives (of optical and/or magnetic storagemedium), an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program,and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application runningon a server and the server can be a component. One or more componentscan reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a componentcan be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or morecomputers. Further, components may be communicatively coupled to eachother by various types of communications media to coordinate operations.The coordination may involve the uni-directional or bi-directionalexchange of information. For instance, the components may communicateinformation in the form of signals communicated over the communicationsmedia. The information can be implemented as signals allocated tovarious signal lines. In such allocations, each message is a signal.Further embodiments, however, may alternatively employ data messages.Such data messages may be sent across various connections. Exemplaryconnections include parallel interfaces, serial interfaces, and businterfaces.

In one embodiment, the computing architecture 700 may comprise or beimplemented as part of an electronic device. Examples of an electronicdevice may include without limitation a mobile device, a personaldigital assistant, a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a cellulartelephone, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messagingdevice, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a notebook computer, a handheld computer, a tabletcomputer, a server, a server array or server farm, a web server, anetwork server, an Internet server, a work station, a mini-computer, amain frame computer, a supercomputer, a network appliance, a webappliance, a distributed computing system, multiprocessor systems,processor-based systems, consumer electronics, programmable consumerelectronics, television, digital television, set top box, wirelessaccess point, base station, subscriber station, mobile subscribercenter, radio network controller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch,machine, or combination thereof. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext.

The computing architecture 700 includes various common computingelements, such as one or more processors, co-processors, memory units,chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timingdevices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O)components, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited toimplementation by the computing architecture 700.

As shown in FIG. 7, the computing architecture 700 comprises aprocessing unit 704, a system memory 706 and a system bus 708. Theprocessing unit 704 can be any of various commercially availableprocessors. Dual microprocessors and other multi processor architecturesmay also be employed as the processing unit 704. The system bus 708provides an interface for system components including, but not limitedto, the system memory 706 to the processing unit 704. The system bus 708can be any of several types of bus structure that may furtherinterconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), aperipheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commerciallyavailable bus architectures.

The computing architecture 700 may comprise or implement variousarticles of manufacture. An article of manufacture may comprise acomputer-readable storage medium to store various forms of programminglogic. Examples of a computer-readable storage medium may include anytangible media capable of storing electronic data, including volatilememory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory,erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, andso forth. Examples of programming logic may include executable computerprogram instructions implemented using any suitable type of code, suchas source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, staticcode, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visual code, and the like.

The system memory 706 may include various types of computer-readablestorage media in the form of one or more higher speed memory units, suchas read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM(DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), staticRAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymermemory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase changeor ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS)memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitablefor storing information. In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 7,the system memory 706 can include non-volatile memory 710 and/orvolatile memory 712. A basic input/output system (BIOS) can be stored inthe non-volatile memory 710.

The computer 702 may include various types of computer-readable storagemedia in the form of one or more lower speed memory units, including aninternal hard disk drive (HDD) 714, a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD)716 to read from or write to a removable magnetic disk 718, and anoptical disk drive 720 to read from or write to a removable optical disk722 (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD). The HDD 714, FDD 716 and optical disk drive720 can be connected to the system bus 708 by a HDD interface 724, anFDD interface 726 and an optical drive interface 728, respectively. TheHDD interface 724 for external drive implementations can include atleast one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 interfacetechnologies.

The drives and associated computer-readable media provide volatileand/or nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executableinstructions, and so forth. For example, a number of program modules canbe stored in the drives and memory units 710, 712, including anoperating system 730, one or more application programs 732, otherprogram modules 734, and program data 736.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 702 throughone or more wire/wireless input devices, for example, a keyboard 738 anda pointing device, such as a mouse 740. Other input devices may includea microphone, an infra-red (IR) remote control, a joystick, a game pad,a stylus pen, touch screen, or the like. These and other input devicesare often connected to the processing unit 704 through an input deviceinterface 742 that is coupled to the system bus 708, but can beconnected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, IEEE 1394 serialport, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, and so forth.

A monitor 744 or other type of display device is also connected to thesystem bus 708 via an interface, such as a video adaptor 746. Inaddition to the monitor 744, a computer typically includes otherperipheral output devices, such as speakers, printers, and so forth.

The computer 702 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections via wire and/or wireless communications to one or moreremote computers, such as a remote computer 748. The remote computer 748can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer,portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peerdevice or other common network node, and typically includes many or allof the elements described relative to the computer 702, although, forpurposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device 750 is illustrated.The logical connections depicted include wire/wireless connectivity to alocal area network (LAN) 752 and/or larger networks, for example, a widearea network (WAN) 754. Such LAN and WAN networking environments arecommonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-widecomputer networks, such as intranets, all of which may connect to aglobal communications network, for example, the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 702 is connectedto the LAN 752 through a wire and/or wireless communication networkinterface or adaptor 756. The adaptor 756 can facilitate wire and/orwireless communications to the LAN 752, which may also include awireless access point disposed thereon for communicating with thewireless functionality of the adaptor 756.

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 702 can includea modem 758, or is connected to a communications server on the WAN 754,or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN 754,such as by way of the Internet. The modem 758, which can be internal orexternal and a wire and/or wireless device, connects to the system bus708 via the input device interface 742. In a networked environment,program modules depicted relative to the computer 702, or portionsthereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device 750. It willbe appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary andother means of establishing a communications link between the computerscan be used.

The computer 702 is operable to communicate with wire and wirelessdevices or entities using the IEEE 802 family of standards, such aswireless devices operatively disposed in wireless communication (e.g.,IEEE 802.11 over-the-air modulation techniques) with, for example, aprinter, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, personal digitalassistant (PDA), communications satellite, any piece of equipment orlocation associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk,news stand, restroom), and telephone. This includes at least Wi-Fi (orWireless Fidelity), WiMax, and Bluetooth™ wireless technologies. Thus,the communication can be a predefined structure as with a conventionalnetwork or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices.Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11x (a, b, g, n,etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Finetwork can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet,and to wire networks (which use IEEE 802.3-related media and functions).

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary communicationsarchitecture 800 suitable for implementing various embodiments aspreviously described. The communications architecture 800 includesvarious common communications elements, such as a transmitter, receiver,transceiver, radio, network interface, baseband processor, antenna,amplifiers, filters, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are notlimited to implementation by the communications architecture 800.

As shown in FIG. 8, the communications architecture 800 comprisesincludes one or more clients 802 and servers 804. The clients 802 andthe servers 804 are operatively connected to one or more respectiveclient data stores 808 and server data stores 810 that can be employedto store information local to the respective clients 802 and servers804, such as cookies and/or associated contextual information.

The clients 802 and the servers 804 may communicate information betweeneach other using a communication framework 806. The communicationsframework 806 may implement any well-known communications techniques andprotocols, such as those described with reference to systems 100 and700. The communications framework 806 may be implemented as apacket-switched network (e.g., public networks such as the Internet,private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and so forth), acircuit-switched network (e.g., the public switched telephone network),or a combination of a packet-switched network and a circuit-switchednetwork (with suitable gateways and translators).

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “one embodiment”or “an embodiment” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Theappearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.Further, some embodiments may be described using the expression“coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms arenot necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, someembodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or“coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physicalor electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, mayalso mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with eachother, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided toallow a reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technicaldisclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not beused to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Inaddition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen thatvarious features are grouped together in a single embodiment for thepurpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is notto be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimedembodiments require more features than are expressly recited in eachclaim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matterlies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thusthe following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separateembodiment. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which”are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms“comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,”“second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are notintended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

What has been described above includes examples of the disclosedarchitecture. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components and/or methodologies, but one ofordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinationsand permutations are possible. Accordingly, the novel architecture isintended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variationsthat fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. A transcoder device comprising: multiple wireless transceivers; and aprocessing component communicatively coupled to the multiple wirelesstransceivers, the processing component comprising a transcoder controlmodule operative on the processing component to receive a controldirective sent from a remote control device, identify one or moredestination devices from among a set of multiple destination devices toreceive the control directive, and relay the control directive to theone or more destination devices.
 2. The transcoder device of claim 1configured to perform operations of receiving the control directive in afirst one of the multiple wireless transceivers.
 3. The transcoderdevice of claim 2 configured to perform operations of relaying thecontrol directive to the one or more destination devices using a secondone of the multiple wireless transceivers.
 4. The transcoder device ofclaim 3 wherein the first one of the multiple wireless transceivers andthe second one of the multiple wireless transceivers are the same. 5.The transcoder device of claim 1 further comprising multiple sensordevices including at least one of a video camera, a light sensor, amotion detector, a thermometer, and a microphone.
 6. The transcoderdevice of claim 5 configured to perform operations of: detecting athreshold level in a sensor device; and sending a control directive toone or more destination devices based on the detected threshold level ina sensor device.
 7. The transcoder device of claim 5 configured toperform operations of confirming execution of a control directiverelayed to a destination device using one of the multiple sensordevices.
 8. The transcoder device of claim 1, the processing componentfurther comprising a processor and memory operative with the multiplewireless transceivers wherein the memory is configured to store datapertaining to the one or more destination devices including identifierdata representing an identifier for each of the one or more destinationdevices.
 9. The transcoder device of claim 8 wherein: the controldirective includes the identifier data for an intended destinationdevice; and the transcoder device is configured to relay the controldirective to a destination device based on the identifier data of thedestination device stored in the memory.
 10. The transcoder device ofclaim 9 wherein the control directive further comprises multiple controldirectives that form a single control directive macro.
 11. Thetranscoder device of claim 10 wherein the control directive macroincludes control directives intended for different destination devices.12. The transcoder device of claim 1 wherein the transcoder device isconfigured to relay the control directive to a second transcoder devicethat is configured to relay the control directive to the one or moredestination devices.
 13. The transcoder device of claim 1 wherein thetranscoder device is configured to perform operations of receiving thecontrol directive over an IP network.
 14. The transcoder device of claim1 wherein the multiple wireless transceivers include at least twoselected from a group comprising an IR transceiver, an RF transceiver,an ultrasonic transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, and a WiFitransceiver.
 15. A method comprising: receiving a control directive sentfrom a remote control device using a first wireless transceiver;identifying one or more destination devices from among a set of multipledestination devices to receive the control directive; and relaying thecontrol directive to the one or more destination devices using a secondwireless transceiver. 16-19. (canceled)
 20. An article of manufacturecomprising a computer-readable storage medium containing instructionsthat when executed enable a system to: receive a control directive sentfrom a remote control device, the control directive including identifierdata for each of one or more intended destination devices; determine theintended destination devices from the identifier data in the controldirective; and relay the control directive based on the identifier dataof the destination devices to the one or more intended destinationdevices
 21. The article of claim 20, further comprising instructionsthat when executed enable the system to: detect a threshold level from asensor device; and cause a control directive to be sent to one or moredestination devices upon detection of the threshold level.
 22. Thearticle of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executedenable the system to confirm execution of a control directive relayed toa destination device using information received from at least one ofmultiple sensor devices, the multiple sensor devices including a videocamera, a motion detector, a light sensor, a thermometer, and amicrophone.
 23. The article of claim 20 wherein the control directivefurther comprises multiple control directives that form a single controldirective macro.
 24. The article of claim 23 wherein the controldirective macro includes control directives intended for differentdestination devices.